In his letter, published in Novaya Rabochaya
Gazeta No. 16, A. Bogdanov concealed the main reason for his
disagreement with Pravda.

That reason is that A. Bogdanov has for many years been opposing the
philosophy of Marxism and upholding bourgeois idealist views against the
materialism of Marx and Engels.

For that reason, the Marxist Bolsheviks several years ago considered it
their duty to come out against Bogdanov. For the same reason the Marxist
Mensheviks, in the person of G. V. Plekhanov, are conducting a literary
struggle against Bogdanov. And lastly, for the very same reason, even the
so-called Vperyod
group[2] has broken with Bogdanov.

True, ever since Bogdanov began to contribute to Pravda, we
doubted whether he would refrain from carrying his fight against the
philosophy of Marxism into the columns of the workers’
newspaper. Unfortunately, A. Bogdanov hastened to confirm our fears. After
getting several small popular articles on innocuous subjects, published in
Pravda, he shortly submitted an article entitled “Ideology”, in
which, in the moat “popular” manner, he launched an attack upon the
philosophy of Marxism. The editors refused to publish that anti-Marxist
article. This was the cause of the conflict.

We advise A. Bogdanov, instead of complaining about “family rows” to
get that article entitled “Ideology” published (the
liquidationist newspaper will not, of course, refuse hospitality to an
anti-Marxist article). All Marxists will then be able to see the real
reason for our disagreement with Bogdanov, concerning which he said not
a word in his lengthy letter.

We believe that the workers have set up a newspaper of their own in order
that it should advocate Marxism, and not have its columns used to
distort Marxism in the spirit of bourgeois “scholars”.

We are also very glad that A. Bogdanov has once again raised the
question of the article on the Vperyod group, which he sent to
Pravda last summer. Since A. Bogdanov desires it, he will receive
(in Prosveshcheniye) a detailed statement about the number of
untruths that article contained, and about the immense harm that
adventurist group has caused the working-class movement in
Russia.[1]

Notes

[2]The Vperyod group—an anti-Party group including otzovists,
ultimatumists, god-builders, and empirio-monists (adherents of the
reactionary, idealistic philosophy of Mach and Avenarius), organised abroad
in December 1909 and headed by A. Bogdanov and G. Alexinsky. It had several
small circles, consisting mostly of intellectuals, in Paris, Geneva and
Tiflis. In Lenin’s words, the views of the Vperyod group were “a
caricature of Bolshevism”. With no support among the workers, the group
fell apart in 1913. For further details about this group see pp.487–93 of
this volume.